I'll Fight For You
by InLoVeWiThAmOnStEr2
Summary: That's when the door to the pit opens, flooding the room with light, legionaries hold the door open standing on guard as a young woman enters the pit. Mal's stomach flips at the sight of her, she was certain that she was Venus, or that she had been blessed by Venus herself, because her beauty knew no bounds. Her hair was blue, like the clear ocean found by the countryside of Rome.
1. Chapter 1

Mal hated the rich ones. There was always one. Mal never understood why someone would willingly want to become a gladiator, it was stupid, it was illogical, and those rich idiots, who paid for the best kind of training and their expert diets, were the worst kind of gladiators out there.

Mal was born and bred for fighting, she had wielded a sword before she had learnt to walk, hell, Mal was adamant she used to be a hell of a kicker in her mother's womb. Mal couldn't write, she couldn't read, she'd been a slave her entire life, sold to fight by her previous owner, and destined to die young. The only thing was that Mal didn't die. She was still young, sure, but twenty two years was a fine age for what she did. She trained hard and she never fought and lost: she survived. Maybe the Gods watched over her.

Typically she wore a loincloth, covering the important parts of herself, no helmet was worn by female gladiators when pitted against another female, but when Mal fought men, she was allowed a helmet. She carried a shield on one arm, armour on her unshielded arm and each of her legs. Gladiators were not permitted a chest plate unless the emperor wanted a bloody battle - he'd be kind enough to give them chest plates to prolong their battle and make it more entertaining.

The rich ones though, they got the whole armour ordeal. Mal had exposed flesh here and there while her opponent was wearing more armour and a tunic to cover his body even more - yet another reason why she hated rich men.

Mal twirls her sword lazily, almost effortlessly, she was sick of him dancing around her. The crowd was yelling insults clearly boring of their match. It was full today, thousands of people were in the stands, and even the emperor himself had come to watch the match.

The man lunges forward surprising Mal enough for him to actually hit her. He manages to slice across her stomach slightly before she steps back. Mal hits her sword against her shield. _It's go time_. She lunges forward with the ferocity that only a born gladiator could process and the man barely has enough time to block her attacks with his sword. The crowd erupt in cheers when they hear the clashing of swords and Mal lets out a low growl. She twists her sword around his, causing his wrist to twist from the action, and Mal uses that pain he clearly felt to whack the blade from his grasp. It falls in the sand with a satisfying thud and she throws down her shield on the ground and replaces it with the blade.

She was double armed now and her opponent had nothing. He backs off quickly, Mal looked damn scary wielding two swords in her gladiator get up. She backs him into a corner, forcing him to do something, he swings at her face with his fist and Mal slices his hand clean off. The crowd cheers yet again and Mal watches as the man screams and lands on his knees. She rips his helmet off of his face and pauses at the look of absolute terror in his eyes. Mal was known for being ruthless though.

She grabs him by his hair and pulls him, dragging him by his hair and causing another scream to explode from his lips. She stops in front of the emperor, and dumps his body on the ground in the sand, delivering a hard kick to his ribs with a satisfying crack - like she said, she was pretty sure she was one hell of a kicker in her mother's womb. Even with his breastplate on it was clear that Mal had done some kind of damage.

She doesn't let him recover from that blow and she grabs him by his hair again bringing him to his knees and holding his head up. She positions her gladius at his neck and then looks up at the emperor expectantly. The crowd was going wild, waving their thumbs around and yelling "Death." and "Kill him!" at Mal. The man cradles his severed hand to his chest, his nose was bleeding, he was dirty and bruised and Mal wanted to kill him, it would certainly save him a lot of torture, losing a hand was like losing an essential part of your body - especially for a warrior.

Mal stares hard at the emperor through her helmet and she sees the subtle shake of his head and his thumb was nowhere to be seen. Mal grunts, clearly this guy was important to the emperor in some kind of way, usually he let Mal kill every one of her opponents. She cracks him over the head again, knocking him out, and removes her helmet tossing it into the sand beside her. She tosses her swords along with it and the crowd cheers in celebration of their victor. They chant her name over and over again and Mal gives the emperor one final stare before walking away and back to the pit.

Her fellow gladiators cheer as she enters and Mal grins as she revives claps on the back in congratulations. Despite the fact that they constantly fight each other, they were all brothers and sisters in here. Mal tended to distance herself, becoming attached to a fellow gladiator was dangerous, and maybe stupid, but a few had managed to get under her skin: Carlos DeVille one of those people.

Mal presses her hand to her wound and winces - he'd gotten her good deep enough to bleed but not as serious as it could have been. She removes her armour first, leaving her in only the loincloth that covered her lower half and her upper half of her body, she then slumps down against the hard wall and lets exhaustion seep into her bones.

That's when the door to the pit opens, flooding the room with light, legionaries hold the door open standing on guard as a young woman enters the pit. Mal's stomach flips at the sight of her, she was certain that she was Venus, or that she had been blessed by Venus herself, because her beauty knew no bounds. Her hair was blue, like the clear ocean found by the countryside of Rome, and her eyes were light brown as the beautiful horses on the farms - they sparked, like the water that filtered into Rome through the beautifully constructed aqueducts - she was wearing a toga, clearly she was of some kind of social status.

Her piercing brown eyes find Mal's green ones and the beautiful woman proceeds towards the young gladiator silently. The other gladiators were back to their everyday business now, ignoring the presence of the woman, but Mal was transfixed on this ethereal woman. Surely she was a goddess and, if she were not, surely she had some kind of godly blood - Mal had heard of those demigods: brave fighters and strong willed and beautiful just like this woman.

She stops in front of Mal and Mal watches silently as more soldiers place ingredients down beside the woman. "The emperor sent me to tend to your wound." She says and Mal sits up suddenly feeling very exposed. "I'm the best healer in Rome." She assures as though Mal wouldn't believe her if she hadn't. The beauty crouches in front of Mal and examines the wound closely. "Hm." She hums examining the wound. "I'll need to clean it." She says and Mal was still speechless. "I'd like to use vinegar but I can use wine if you would like? It's not as painful." She explains. Mal almost wanted to scoff, had she not understood how disrespectful that would be she might have, instead she raises her eyebrows.

"I'm sure I can handle it." Mal replies and the blue haired's lips quirk up at the corners in amusement.

"She speaks." She muses soaking some linen cloth in what Mal supposed was vinegar. She leaves them to soak as she uses a cloth and water to remove any derbies and dry blood from her wound. "That boy that you fought was the emperor's son." She continues and Mal's eyes widen slightly. The girl chuckles at Mal's surprise and places her rag in the water that one of the soldiers had placed down before. "Don't worry, we all told him not to fight, especially you, but it was his own stubbornness that got his hand taken from him."

"Should you not be helping him?" Mal asks and the girl shakes her head.

"I may be the finest healer in Rome but apparently women aren't as respected as our men counterparts." She smiles softly and Mal nods in understanding. "Plus Thelonious believes my services were more suited for you." Mal found that strange but by the sounds of things this mystery woman was close with the emperor and perhaps his son - she wonders how she knows them, if she's as well off as Mal thinks she might be. "This is going to hurt." She warns bringing the soaked linen up to Mal's wound. Mal tenses in anticipation as the tan girl places the cloth over her wound.

Mal lets out a grunt, and a rumble of swears, before saying "Son of hydra." which coaxes a giggle from the girl in front of her. Mal could hear her wound sizzle as the vinegar did its work.

"You're brave warrior." The healer compliments beginning to soak more linen in vinegar. She removes the linen in her wound after a moment and examines it once more. "A few stitches should hold this in place, then I'll wrap it in linen, again, soaked in vinegar, to be sure to avoid infection." She informs Mal.

"Galen would be jealous of your healing abilities." Mal says her voice strained and hoarse. The blue haired girl smiles brightly at her though she was frowning ever so slightly. She gestures a guard over and orders them to go fetch her some water. She begins stitching the wound, and Mal counts five in total, before she's wrapping another soaked linen bandage around the wound and smiling at her work.

The soldier returns with water and hands it to Evie who gives it to Mal. Mal sips quietly on her water as the girl watches her. Mal had fought many battles for many audiences but nothing has unnerved her like the girl's brown eyes on her did. For the first time in a long time, Mal was nervous. She felt a fluttering in her stomach that she hadn't felt in a really, really, long time. "Evie." The woman says with a small smirk. "My name is Evie." She answers seeing the confused look on Mal's face.

"Maleficent." Mal replies. "But most just call me Mal."

"A pretty name for a pretty face." She comments and Mal feels herself blushing. The brown eyed girl hands her a tunic which Mal takes gratefully.

"So I'm curious, how did you end up here?" She asks and Mal looks at her. She looked genuinely interested as though she actually wanted to know.

"I was sold by my previous master." Mal answers. "I had to train hard to survive."

"Well the emperor is certainly find of you." Evie says peaking Mal's interest. "You have the most kills under your belt, you fight like no one I've ever seen."

"I do what I have to do." Mal replies and the girl pauses staring at the pale gladiator in front of her. It could be assumed that she had no family, making friends as a gladiator was rare, it was lonely life, and Evie felt her heart swell at the thought of this beautiful, beautiful, woman feeling lonely. She was beautiful, her green eyes burned with a kind of emotion that Evie couldn't place, the woman was slim, which was good because that made her agile and nimble when she fought, her talents in welding a sword were exceptional and her smile was rare - that much Evie could tell.

"I suppose you do." Evie nods as the soldiers begin taking the equipment, that Evie had used to heal the warrior, away. She reaches up, in an almost bold gesture, and cups the woman's cheeks with her hands, staring into the woman's bright forest green eyes. "Perhaps we will see each other again." Evie says running her thumb over the smooth skin of Mal's cheek. Her tone is suggestive and, if the rise of her eyebrows doesn't say it all, Mal would take that as the beauty being interested.

"Maybe we will." Mal murmurs and she would kiss the healer were she not surrounded by her fellow gladiators, if the soldiers by the door were not waiting for Evie, she would kiss her, until her lungs ached for air, if she had time.

Evie stands up and dusts herself down, readjusting her toga, before giving Mal one final smile and walking out the door. Mal breathes a sigh and makes a silent wish to the Gods that she would see the girl again.

 **/**

The next time Mal saw Evie it was under the bright warm sun of Rome. She was training idly, by herself, swinging her sword and practicing her technique. It wasn't uncommon that sometimes people would watch the gladiators train, it was all they pretty much did to keep themselves busy, and staying in the pit all day sometimes made you go insane, but they were slaves after all - they were not permitted to leave the Coliseum without strict permission.

A new arrival had come only the previous day, a young boy, who couldn't be older than thirteen, he had dark hair and light brown eyes and he reminded Mal of Evie. He was young, and wiry, but he was inexperienced and basically a child. Mal had taken him under her wing, training him to become a fighter like herself, but now she was training herself while Aden relaxed in the pit.

Mal didn't notice Evie until she heard an amused and soft voice ask her a question. "Do gladiators ever fall in love?" A voice asks to which Mal immediately recognises. She turns around, her arm falling but still holding the sword in her palm. Mal raises her eyebrows, throwing the sword down so that it stuck out of the ground - ready for when she may need it again.

"That's like asking do humans fall in love." Mal points out and the girl smiles - her smile was as bright as the sun that even Apollo would be jealous.

"Have you ever been in love?" She asks teasingly and Mal looks around for a moment. She sighs and takes a step closer to Evie.

"Once." She admits and Evie's eyebrows shoot up. "Her name was Audrey."

"Was?" Evie asks hesitantly and Mal nods her head.

"When the barbarians attacked our village, she was killed, her head was cut off." Mal explains.

"That was before you were a gladiator?" Evie asks and Mal nods her head.

"Back when I was just a slave and I didn't fight for my life everyday." Mal says a little bitterly and Evie bites her lip.

"I'm sorry." Evie apologises and Mal shrugs.

"I tried to fight back, I disobeyed my master's orders, that's how I ended up here." Mal says. "I tried to save my love and it got her killed in a more brutal way then what they were probably planning on doing to her in the first place." Evie steps forward, so there was only a few inches between them, and Mal takes a deep breath in. The blue haired girl takes her hand and leads her towards one of the arches of the Coliseum hiding them from the sight of anyone.

Mal takes the hint and, as soon as she's out of sight, her hands are on Evie's waist and she's kissing her softly on the lips. The beauty's hands tangle in the purple haired girl's loose braids and Mal presses herself closer to Evie. The kiss was gentle, at first, as they each got acquainted to one another's lips. Evie's back was against the stone wall of the Coliseum but she pushed back against Mal with equal force. Mal deepens the kiss, brushing her nose tentatively over the girl's who lets out a small satisfied sigh. Evie nips at Mal's bottom lip smiling when she hears Mal moan slightly at the gesture.

Mal wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, exploring one another's mouths, hands wandering here and there, until Evie pulls away with a small chuckle. "Do you think if the other gladiators knew you kissed like that they'd be so scared of you?" Evie asks her finger trailing down Mal's chest.

"Definitely." Mal replies reconnecting their lips but Evie stops her again.

"You're a little eager." Evie comments. "I'm sure you can wait for that." Evie raises her eyebrows and Mal nods kissing Evie gently on the forehead.

"Come see me fight tomorrow." Mal says continuing her kisses down Evie's temple to her cheek and to her jaw. Evie leans back against the wall, for support, and nods her head sighing in content.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world." She replies and Mal's lips find their way to the beauty's neck. Evie allows herself to get lost in the kiss for a moment, until she feels Evie's teeth grazing over her skin, she hits Mal lightly on the shoulder and the brunette smirks against her skin. She pulls back and gently brushes a strand of blue hair from Evie's face.

"Don't lose." Evie states and Mal's eyes soften. She couldn't promise anything, the emperor had his way of surprising the gladiators, but she understood Evie's worry, it was only natural, and even after knowing her for only a small amount of time Mal felt the connection between them - she felt drawn to a Evie in a way she hadn't felt drawn to someone in a long time.

Mal kisses her on the nose and offers her a tiny smile - that was the first time Evie had seen her smile. "If you are there then I will try my very best." She replies. Shouting from inside the arena catches Mal's attention - it was the guards calling them back in from their training. "Farewell Evie." She says backing up slightly. She gives her one last lingering look before she jogs off back towards the arena.

"Farewell Mal." Evie whispers back.

 **/**

Exiting the pit and entering the arena sparked an excitement deep in Evie like no other. The sun was high in the sky and burning with intensity. Today they had been given breastplates, leather, so not as strong as they could be but more armour than usual, telling Mal that today was going to be a long fight. A group of gladiators had been chosen and Mal had assumed that they would be fighting one another but, as each one exited the gates, she started to think that maybe that wasn't the case.

They meet up in the middle, the crowd cheering the loudest when they see Mal swirling her blades, she'd been allowed two blades today which was rare but Mal fought better with two swords. Scattered around the arena were numerous weapons and trinkets that could be used for many different purposes.

Mal stops in the centre beside her fellow gladiators and lifts her helmet to look at them curiously. Armed in a tunic, leather breastplate, steel arm guards, shin guards, sandals and a helmet, meant something big was happening - not to mention the chains on the ground. "What's going on?" Mal recognised that voice as Jay, Carlos' secret boyfriend, both of them had been sold into slavery and wound up fighting in the arena.

"I heard it's a centurion fight." The boy beside her lifts his helmet but Mal already knew who it was.

"Carlos?" Lexa asks. This wasn't good. She didn't want to have to fight her friend, she certainly didn't want to kill his boyfriend in front of him either. The other gladiators start murmuring, panicking, and Mal clangs her swords together to silence them.

Centurion fights were rare. Every so often the emperor decided he wanted to show off how experienced his army was and he'd organise a centurion fight in the arena. There was usually only two centurions, the most elite and experienced soldiers in the Roman army, they were accompanied by auxiliaries, non Roman citizens who fought for the Roman army but were not as trained in handling as many weapons as that of a legionary soldier.

"What's the plan commander?" Carlos asks nudging her. Mal had earned that nickname from the last centurion fight after she'd led the attack and saved the majority of the gladiators that fought that day. That's the way it was, the Roman army versus, arguably, the most fearsome warriors in the whole of the Roman Empire.

Mal doesn't even have a chance to answer when the sound of one of the gates being pulled up echos through the arena. All heads snap to the sound when the sound of hooves thundering on the sand catches their attention. Mal's eyes deviate for a second and she sees her Evie standing in the crowd her face a picture of horror.

These battles tended to get bloody but Mal trusted that, with teamwork, they could beat the centurions. "Now we fight." Mal says turning to Carlos. She pulls her helmet from her face - she hated wearing that thing anyway - and looks around the Coliseum grounds. "Javelin, now." Mal orders and Carlos takes off. "Engage the carriage." Mal orders two other gladiators and they nod banging their swords against their shields. "When Carlos comes back here, you take that javelin, and you hit it right into that bastard's wheel, do you understand?" Mal asks Jay and he nods his head not even questioning her.

"What are you going to do?" He asks and Mal smirks twirling her blades almost like a mad woman.

"I'm going to keep the auxiliaries busy." She informs him. The centurions were rounding the arena, poking and throwing things at the gladiators that Mal had told to attack the carriage, while the Jay and Carlos worked on finding the right angle of throwing the javelin to hit the carriage's wheel, that left Mal with a whole group of auxiliaries just itching to kill the most favoured gladiator in Rome.

She cuts the first one down with ease, he was far too cocky, he left all his defenses open and if you run towards Mal then she will cut you down without hesitation. The crowd let out a pained sound as they watch the soldier land face down in the sand, blood spilling onto the sand and staining Mal's shiny blade. Two more soldiers run up to her but they slow their step when they get in reaching distance being more defensive than the last man.

Both swing at Mal, and she uses both her blades to deflect both attacks, she elbows one harshly on the head, causing him to whimper and back off, which gives her time to focus on one soldier at a time. She slashes at the other soldier's leg, watching as he bled from the wound, she then deflects his sword and hits him on the head, harshly, with the hilt of her other sword. The guy stumbles back and Mal slashes his chest, twice, once with each blade, cutting through the leather armour there easily, she sweeps his feet out from under him and brings her blade down with a battle cry sealing his fate.

"By the Gods," the other soldier murmurs. "please." He holds his hands up earning him boos from the crowd. "I have a family, I can't die, please, I don't want to die." He pleads. Mal turns on him, her armour splashed in blood from her last victim, the crowd are cheering "Kill! Kill! Kill!" over and over again, somewhere else in the arena there's a crashing sound.

"I'm sorry," Mal says. "may you find peace in the afterlife." Mal plunges her sword into his chest and then pulls it right back out again. The man stares at her, his eyes wide, blood spills from his mouth and his chest, and Mal stares at him, emotionless, as he drops to his knees and then falls in the sand. The crowd cheers and Mal looks at them to see a certain beauty who looked pale.

"Mal!" Mal whirls when she hears her name being called. "We could really use your help over here!" That was Carlos - who was being quickly advanced on by a centurion. Mal notices the gaping holes in the ground and her eyes widen when she sees the two new additions to the fight: two tigers - beautiful beasts but were probably going to be the death of somebody.

Mal picks up a nearby net, left there undoubtedly for the gladiators to use in their battle, she abandons one of her swords, choosing to go for a shield instead. She sprints towards Mal and tosses the netting so that it lands on the centurion. He flails around for a second and Jay tosses a piece of rope to Carlos and the two pull it tight so that the centurion walks into it and trips.

Mal leaps forward and kicks him backwards his head landing right in reach of one of the tigers. The centurion didn't even have a chance to know why he had been left because one second he's staring at the sky and the next there's teeth clamping down on his face. He lets out a bloodcurdling scream and even Mal has to look away from the gore that presumes but if the crowds horrified sounds was anything to go by: it was not a pretty sight.

The last centurion bangs his sword against his shield and more auxiliary soldiers flood out from the gate. Mal looks at the carriage that had toppled over and that still had a spear protruding from between the wooden spirals of its wheel. The horses were running wild and Mal made a reckless and, arguably, stupid decision to try and slow one down. She holds her hands out and tries to calm the horse. "Whoah, whoah, whoah." Mal says soothingly and the horse skids to a stop in front of her clearly skittish and anxious. Mal runs her hand along its neck and purrs into its ear the tigers, no doubly, making it more nervous than it already was. "It's me and you bud." Mal says climbing up onto the horse. She grabs its reins and pets its mane one last time before accepting a javelin from Jay as she rode past slowly.

Jay throws one, hitting an auxiliary square in the chest, killing him instantly, while Carlos occupied the centurion. Mal rode her horse past the auxiliary soldiers, spearing one with her javelin as she does so. She then uses her blade to quickly cut down the rest with great speed and her advantage of being on a horse.

"No!" Mal hears Jay's shout of horror and she turns to face them. Without even thinking about it she rides full speed ahead at the centurion. He had his blade raised, ready to slash Carlos down, but he was definitely surprised when a horse went crashing into him. It only stuns him for a second but in that second Mal's off her horse and kicking his helmet from his head.

Mal was covered in blood, her face was smothered in war paint and her green eyes were on fire as she sent her fist flying into his jaw. The centurion lands in a heap in the sand, a grin and a kind of laugh escaping him after he spits out blood and probably a tooth. Mal stabs him in the foot, and then the other foot, and grabs him by his hair. No way anymore auxiliary soldiers were going to come now. No way.

Mal had him right where she wanted him. Jay was tending to Carlos, making sure she was okay, while Mal dragged the centurion through the centre of the two tigers - that were snapping at her but unable to reach her due to the chains that were attached to them - by the hair. She stops in front of the emperor, presenting the last centurion, on his knees, at at her mercy. "Do you really want to be like this?" The centurion groans feeling the cool metal of Mal's blade meet his neck. "As the cold, merciless, gladiator?" He asks and Mal stares stoically ahead as the emperor steps forward leaning against the stone railing in front of him.

The crowd wanted death, they were cheering for the centurion's death, and, really, if a centurion couldn't beat a gladiator what hope did he have of beating people in war? The emperor holds his thumb out in the middle and the crowd quiets, silently waiting for his decision, in one motion his thumb tilts down and Mal pulls her blade back. "We are what we are." Mal says before swinging her hand towards his neck with a loud battle cry and cutting it clean off.

 **/**

Mal was cleaning her blades when the doors to the pit opened. The gladiators go silent as Evie enters and Mal was seriously starting to wonder who her connections were. She gestures for Mal to follow her and Mal stands following her without a word.

They stop outside, in the cool night air, and Evie gestures to the guards. "Leave us." She orders. The guards hesitate, eyeing Mal wearily, before doing as Evie had instructed. Evie waits until they disappear before pulling Mal's face very close to her own. She inspects it, and the rest of Mal's body, but finds no sign of any injuries on her - at least not serious ones. Mal stays silent, waiting for Evie to say something - anything. "You're okay." She breathes and Mal raises an eyebrow.

"Did you doubt me?" Mal asks. Evie ignores her question and swallows thickly - nervously.

"That man, whom you killed, he begged you to spare him." Evie says and Mal frowns. "Couldn't you have?" Mal didn't understand the questions, well, she did, she just couldn't understand why Evie would ask that question.

"No." Mal answers emotionless. "I'm a gladiator Evie, I fight, I kill and I repeat, it's what to do." She reminds her. "If I had spared him the second I turned my back he would have drove his blade right through it." Mal sounded so sure because she was - there was no way that soldier would have let her live. "I lost two gladiators today but three lived. Do you know how often gladiators win against centurions? Not often."

"So you're okay with it? Just killing people?" Evie asks staring into the girl's green eyes. Mal didn't have an answer for her, she was hardened to killing now, it was just something she did, taking a life had been hard at first but when you do it on a daily basis it doesn't have that much of an effect on you anymore. Mal shakes her head, feeling exasperated with the brown eyed girl.

"You watch the games, are you okay with the killing?" Mal asks. She used to be. Evie used to enjoy the games, even when her mother wouldn't let her watch she still managed to sneak off and watch them anyway, she loved watching them, there was just a kind of thrill you couldn't get anywhere else, but that was before she met Mal, before she learned how softly she kissed, and before she learned that the green eyed girl was more than just a killing machine, before she knew that gladiators were people.

"That's different." Evie protests. Okay, so maybe she was being a hypocrite but she didn't care - she didn't want Mal to just be numb, to have no feelings. Mal's eyes narrow and Evie knows that she sees right through her. "The emperor is my friend, his son is my best friend, and my mother is high ranking in the government." Evie confesses and Mal's eyes widen. The purple haired girl drops to her knees and Evie sighs pulling Mal back up before she can say what Evie was sure she was about to say. "None of that please." She says dismissively. She may be a noblewoman but she'd rather not have Mal kneeling at her feet - not like that anyway. "I'm telling you this because I want you to understand that I care about you Mal, I started caring about you the second I patched up your wound."

"You… you shouldn't… I'm a gladiator, Evie, this will never end well." Mal stumbles over her words still stunned by the girl's confession of her social status.

"Humour me." Evie says with a smile and Mal frowns before the familiar feeling of Evie's lips envelope her own in a searing kiss. Mal groans, from the feeling, and lets her hands land on Evie's waist, pulling her close and deepening the kiss instinctively. Evie brings hand up to snake around Mal's neck while her other one rests lightly on her cheek. There had been this spark from when they had first met, Mal had put it down to want, or lust, but now she was thinking that maybe it was something more - maybe she felt something deeper than just want for the beauty.

The kiss lasts several minutes, and Mal begins to wonder if Evie's guards were ever going to return, when the girl pulls away. She holds up a piece of paper and Mal looks at it curiously - it's awfully embarrassing that Mal couldn't read. She stares at the paper and nods but Evie instantly picks up that there's a problem. "You can read right?" She asks and Mal sighs shaking her head. "Oh." Evie falls silent at that revelation.

"I was never taught how to… or how to write." Mal admits and Evie found that almost sad - Mal seemed like the type of girl who would really enjoy literature.

"Well maybe I can teach you?" Evie suggests wiggling her eyebrows. Mal raises her eyebrows in confusion and Evie smirks. She clears her throat and begins reading out the letter. "I, Emperor Jaha, allow Maleficent Bertha, Rome's finest gladiator, to leave the pit with Evie whenever she so desires the gladiator. She is permitted to always be with Evie during this time whenever she is absent from the pit." Mal frowns at her in disbelief and Evie grins shoving the letter back to wherever she had had it before.

"You bought me?" Mal asks suspiciously.

"Not exactly. Jaha told me that I couldn't take you out of the games completely, because you're the best of the best, but I could take you out of the pit whenever." She explains and Mal still didn't believe what she was hearing.

"How exactly did you get this to work?" Mal asks.

"He owed me some favours." Evie shrugs and takes Mal's hand. "Now come on, I have something other than a dark pit filled with people to show you." Evie tugs on her arm and Mal follows after her in shock. She was a gladiator, who was allowed to roam freely, so long as she was with Evie? That was insane, that was ridiculous, that couldn't be true, and yet here was, strolling down the street, clutching Evie's hand. Mal was looking forward to whatever happened in the future and Evie made a vow to try and save Mal from the life of a gladiator.


	2. Chapter 2

"Good Aden." Mal praises pushing him back with her blade. "Again." She orders. The young warrior slashes at her with great speed and accuracy, especially for such a young boy, but Mal was far more experienced: she deflected Aden's attacks easily, plus this was sparring, easy going training that probably wouldn't result in a severed limb - probably .

Things had started to shift in Mal's life: she was a gladiator, who was now learning to read and write and who also got to leave the pit so long as she was accompanied by Evie - which really wasn't bad company at all. The other gladiators were jealous - of course they were - until Mal brought back wine one night and they'd loved her for an entire week. The only problem was that this week two gladiators were going to be pitted against each other and Mal had it on good authority that she would be one of those gladiators.

Mal was so caught up in her thoughts that she let her guard slip for a moment and Aden takes that opportunity to lunge forward and cut Mal's arm slightly. Mal jolts out of her thoughts at the sudden burst of pain and stares down at her arm for a moment before staring at Aden. He looked incredibly proud, puffing his chest out, with a grin across his face, and Mal felt proud of him herself, sure, he had attacked her when she had been distracted but, he saw her weakness and used it against her.

She tosses her sword down in the sand, the wound on her arm was only minor, a scratch, if that, and she steps towards Aden. "Is that how you want to play it?" Mal asks and Aden drops his sword backing up from his mentor with his hands raised. Mal pounces on him, and tackles him to the ground playfully, she then proceeds to tickle the young boy at his sides causing him to laugh uncontrollably. Mal grins down at him as she continues tickling him. "Did you really think you could best me that easily?" She teases. Other training gladiators were watching the scene with a sad fondness as Mal teases the young boy.

They had become close, Mal trained Aden and even looked after him ensuring he was well fed and well rested. Aden was young, younger than what Mal had been when she had woken up chained to a wall, a sold slave who had had to fight and survive to even become the gladiator she was now. Aden had fought and, by some miracle, he had been spared by the emperor to serve Rome as a gladiator and Mal wasn't sure if that was any better. Sometimes she thinks maybe it would have been easier to die in the slave fights than to get here: fighting for your life practically every day.

Mal had dreams still, she'd been fighting to become a Rudiarius - a free gladiator who had fulfilled their duties. Mal had won plenty of fights but, apparently, none of them had been distinguishing enough. The only way a gladiator could retire was when the emperor decided they had proved their right to be free - which basically meant killed as many people as they could. Mal had heard that the past emperor had allowed gladiators to retire after their fifth game but that rule was no longer true leaving Mal to have to fight over and over again without an end in sight. How many fights could someone win? Eventually Mal's luck would run out.

Aden wriggles out of Mal's grasp, laughing hysterically, and Mal grins at him ready to pounce back on him when a voice stops her. "I see you're training hard." Mal spins around to see Evie with her eyebrows raised and a wide smile on her face.

"Mea domina." Mal bows her head slightly and Aden follows her example. Evie chuckles and shakes her head at the brunette.

"Aden, it's good to see you, you're growing everyday." Evie smiles brightly at Aden - in that way that only Evie can smile - and Mal finds her heart rate quickening at the sight.

"Mal says I'll be a warrior in no time." He says proudly and Mal ruffles his hair causing him to push her away playfully. Evie watches the incredibly endearing scene with a fond smile on her face but it quickly fades when she remembers why she had come to see Mal.

"Why don't you go train with Jay?" Mal suggests. Aden scrunches his nose up at that suggestion and Mal rolls her eyes. "Fine, go train with Carlos, but if he kills you I won't be held responsible." Mal says and Aden smiles wide before running off to go find Carlos. Mal gives Evie a look, walking towards her sword that she had left on the ground. "Is there something I can do for you my lady?" Mal asks raising her eyebrows.

"It's about your fight tomorrow." Evie confesses. "Mal, you can't fight." Mal frowns pulling her sword from the sand before slipping it into her scabbard. Evie looks around before leading Mal over to one of the arches of the Coliseum, where they had kissed before, and then turns to give Mal a worried look. "Emperor Thelonious has requested Roan to fight you." Mal's frown deepens. That was worrying. Roan was a retired gladiator, and for some years now, he was one of the best, admittedly, he might even be just that little bit better than Mal. He'd earned his freedom, so why would he ever want to return to the arena? "Mal, you can't fight Roan, he'll kill you." Mal scoffs at that accusation and plays with the hilt of her sword that was attached to her side.

"I can't exactly opt out of a fight Evie." Mal points out. "I have to fight, otherwise I definitely die." Evie sighs knowing that that was true but she still wished she could take Mal out of the arena - especially if Roan was going to be in that very same arena. "Plus, I'm sure I can beat him." Mal shrugs. She'd heard stories, sure, but she'd never actually seen Roan fight - he couldn't be that good, could he?

"Mal, you've never seen Roan fight." Evie says in disbelief. "In one of his fights he killed five gladiators before the first one touched the ground, he's killed more men and women than any other gladiator, he's merciless, he'll kill you!" Evie was panicking, Mal could see that, she had to do something to calm her, so she steps closer and places a hand affectionately on her cheek.

"Evie," Mal says lowly and Evie shivers at the way that she says her name. "I'm a strong fighter, I can beat Roan."

"Ma-" Evie tries.

" Shh." Mal soothes and, if Evie had been any other noblewoman other than, well, Evie, then Mal would've probably had her head cut off for having spoken over someone of a higher class than herself. Evie falls silent, her brown eyes narrowing at Mal who continues to stroke her cheek gently. Mal was good, Evie knew that, but Roan was older, stronger, faster and, ultimately, more experienced. Mal didn't stand a chance yet Evie knew that Mal couldn't not fight either.

Shouting from within the the arena catches the pair's attention and Mal's head snaps to the side to see the gladiators returning to the pit. She turns her attention back to Evie and kisses her gently on the forehead. "I will fight Evie." She says leaving no room for disagreement - it's not like Evie could disagree anyway.

"Fine," Evie sighs. "there's something I have to tell you. I need your help."

"Tell me." Mal says without hesitation - if Evie needed help then Mal was at her service. Evie smiles and kisses Mal softly on the cheek.

"After you win." Evie states and Mal smiles slightly warming Evie's heart.

"Of course mea domina." Mal bows her head and Evie swats at her head playfully to get her to stop. Mal chuckles at the beauty who grabs her sword from her sheath. Evie points the blade at Mal and the brunette holds her hands up in mock surrender.

"Silence." Evie says holding her arm straight and staring Mal in the eyes.

"A noblewoman, such as yourself, should not hold such an offence weapon my lady." Mal says sliding her hand delicately down the blade and to Evie's hand. Evie allows Mal to take back her sword without protest - it was actually frowned upon for a noblewoman, such as herself, to train with a weapon unless she was apart of the guard. "Hm." Mal doesn't stop at the sword, her hand runs along Evie's arm and she steps behind her, wrapping her arms around Evie and moving her hair to one side to bury her head in the crook of Evie's neck. "Beautiful." Mal whispers and Evie smiles shivering at the sound of Mal's voice in her ear.

"Aren't you charming?" Evie asks lightly and Mal presses her lips to the girl's neck.

"Beauty should be appreciated." Mal replies. "When I first laid eyes on you I thought Apollo had blessed you with the sun in your hair and a radiant smile to brighten even the pit, I thought Venus had blessed you with beauty and grace beyond belief, I thought that the gods had sent you, put the sky in your eyes, as well as the stars, and blessed your lips to be as soft as a feather." Mal continues her arms embracing Evie from behind. Evie arches into Mal, enjoying being close to the gladiator, and enjoying the shudder that ran down her spine from her words. "I thought that you must have half God blood in your veins to be so beautiful and I thought that I had been blessed to have even been allowed to look at you." Evie turns around and pushes Mal against the wall narrowing her eyes.

"Why does this sound like a goodbye?" Evie asks and Mal grins - she actually grins - and shakes her head.

"Accept that I find you beautiful and nothing else." Mal says and Evie shakes her head in disbelief. She pauses for a moment, staring hard at the purple haired girl, and Mal stays in place, Evie gripping the front of her tunic in her fist, while she allows her eyes to wander down the beauty's body.

"We're equals." Evie states and Mal's eyebrows shoot up in surprise and her eyes lock with Evie's. "I don't care that you're a slave, a gladiator, whatever, you and me, we're the same, no titles, just two women… who happen to enjoy each other's company."

"I happen to enjoy your company very much." Mal replies with a smirk. Evie rolls her eyes and releases Mal's tunic from her grip.

"Don't talk to me until you win your fight." Evie says turning her back on Mal.

"For you I'd do anything." Mal chimes kissing Evie on the cheek quickly before jogging back out to the arena. Evie sighs, she had a bad feeling in her gut about that fight, she needed Mal for more than just being her lover. She needed her.

 **/**

Mal was strapping on her shin guard in the pit. Today she was wearing a tunic, shin guards, sandals, armour on one arm, while the other carried a shield, and she was armed with her silver gladius. She had been allowed a helmet but refused, she felt much better with her hair flowing free in its tangled braids, and, plus, it was just less sweatier and easier to breathe without the helmet. Carlos comes over to her while she pulls her shield onto her arm. "Good luck commander." Carlos says. "After this you'll probably be out of here." He comments and Mal looks at her.

"I will find a way to get you out of here." Mal vows and Carlos shakes his head.

"No need, I'll earn my way out." He says and Mal chuckles shaking her head. Carlos was one of the most skilled, fearless, vicious, fighters Mal knew - and Mal knew herself. "Hey," Carlos stands upright when he sees that Mal was about to reach for her sword. "be careful, okay?"

"You sound like Evie." Mal muses and Carlos gives her a hard stare.

"You're far too cocky Mal, Roan is a bad dude." The spiky haired boy stresses.

"Yes, okay." Mal admits. "I'll be careful." Mal was careful to not make any promises, because you never really knew, but Carlos was being serious and that was not as common as one might think. Carlos holds his hand out and Mal grips his forearm tightly shaking it in a strong warrior way.

"May the gods be with you." Carlos murmurs and Mal ducks her head slightly. Outside the gate the sound of the crowd cheering and hollering could be heard - clearly they were impatient to begin the battle. Mal releases Carlos' arm and reaches for her blade carrying it as she steps towards the gate. She throws one more glance over her shoulder to see Aden staring at her, wide eyed, Jay beside him, while Carlos stood off to one side. Mal hears a shout announcing that Roan had exited his gate and Mal takes a deep breath steadying her nerves - despite fighting many battles, the nerves still somehow managed to creep up on Mal. The crowd erupts into cheers as Roan does his bigoting to warm them up. The bets on this fight would be high and, with both of them being well known gladiators within Rome, it was likely a huge turnout. The gate begins rising and Mal takes one final deep breath before walking forward.

The first thing she notices, weirdly enough, is the sound of the sand crunching underneath her sandals, then there's a shout, someone announcing her name, and the crowd erupts into ear blistering cheers - even louder than what it had been for Roan. The man was wearing similar clothing to that of Mal, brandished in scars and wearing your typical gladiator armour. He looked leaner, and more muscular than what people had described him to be, his hair was quite long and absent of a helmet, he had no shield, he was armed with a sword alone, and Mal tosses her own shield down in the sand. Mal was right about the event being popular, she'd never seen the Coliseum so packed to the brim, it sparked an adrenaline rush and Mal's heart began to beat out of her chest.

Mal scans the crowd for Evie, for light brown eyes, or blue hair, and she finds her in the last place she expected to see her. Sitting beside the emperor, who was on his throne, was his son, Mal knew him as Chad and her blade had taken away his hand, he sat impossibly straight beside his father. On the other side of the emperor was a woman with brown hair and brown eyes though she bore a slight resemblance to a certain beauty who was sitting beside the woman. Mal's eyes connect with Evie's and the girl smiles reassuringly though Mal could see her nerves.

Over the past few weeks Mal had been Evie's secret pet, in a way, she was teaching Mal how to read and write, they'd have long debates about certain topics and Mal learned that Evie preferred to draw than write, she said it expressed how she felt more than words ever could, and Evie found that there was something really beautiful in that and, okay, maybe they'd had a few kisses here and there but nothing beyond that.

Mal watches as Roan begins to circle, twirling his blade and eyeing Mal up. Mal's eyes leave Evie's and the girl lets out a breath of worry. She looks at her mother who was too busy watching the fight to see the plead in her eyes to stop it. She turns back to see Mal copying Roan's moves.

He was taunting her and, under the thrum of the crowd's excitement, Mal was finding it hard not to react - someone was going to make the first move but it was not going to be herself. Finally, it's Roan who lunges forward first but Mal easily sidesteps and moves out of his way slashing her sword across his back as she does so. Roan groans in pain and stays still for a moment, staring up at the emperor's box, before whirling around. Mal doesn't let him recover and goes at him, attacking him one after another, but Roan blocks each one with a loud clash each time.

The pair charge at the same time and meet in the middle, both pressing against one another, no one wanting to back down. "You're too weak." He grunts applying more pressure. Mal hated to admit it but he wasn't technically wrong. He was a man after all, she'd need to use her agility and skill to counteract Roan's brute strength. Roan was stronger so it was no surprise really when he started pushing Mal down, causing her to stumble and grit her teeth in protest, before glancing at the blade. Fuck it. Mal grabs hold of the blade feeling it pierce her skin and warm blood to pool on her palm and run down her arm. The crowd cry out, seeing the blood drip onto the sand, and, although Mal had cut Roan's back, he hadn't spilt any blood on the sand, making Mal's the first blood to be shed.

She ignores the stabbing pain and pushes him back, with more leverage this time, and he stumbles backwards for a moment and the crowd cheer seeing that Mal had regained some of her advantage. He doesn't give her much chance to recover and he's swinging at her once again to which Mal blocks each attack. She was holding her own, the fight wasn't going as well as she might have hoped but, at least she wasn't dead - yet .

He sweeps her feet out from under her and Mal lands face up in the sand before scrambling to her knees in a second but Roan's already there. He drives his blade down and Mal barely has enough time to block it with her own. Roan delivers a hard punch to Mal's jaw, he then kicks her in the ribs and she falls to the ground winded. Her blade slips out of her hand at some point and she lies in the sand as Roan delivers blow after blow with his foot. Mal was pretty sure she had about five broken ribs by the time that he was through with kicking her but no way was she giving up that easily. Roan's biggest weakness was his pride, his hubris, so, as he turns to the crowd, patting his chest, Mal pulls herself up and grabs her blade. She attacks him from the back, slamming the hilt of her sword on his head, he stumbles and Mal uses that moment to slash at him some more opening up wounds and causing him to bleed. Roan scrambles for his own sword and picks it up in time to deflect Mal's lunge. He slashes at Mal, cutting her in multiple places and making her more bloody than she already was. "How about we make this interesting?" He asks with a smirk. Mal raises her eyebrows. Interesting? Her whole right side burned every time she took a breath, if that wasn't interesting enough for herself then what exactly did Roan have planned? He throws his blade down and gestures for Mal to do the same. She hesitates, knowing this could easily be a trap, but eventually follows his example.

Evie tenses, seeing Mal throw down her weapon so willingly, hand to hand combat wasn't uncommon, more so with the slave fights, but Evie didn't like the glisten in Roan's eye - she didn't trust him.

Mal charges at him, and tackles him by the waist, falling on top of him in the sand. Roan grunts as Mal's hands find his neck and she begins strangling him. He lets out a strangled cry and Mal presses her hands harder into his throat gritting her teeth with the power she exerted. Then she feels a fist come up and punch her right in her burning ribs and Mal's falling off of him with a loud cry. Roan rolls on top of Mal and begins hitting Mal over and over again until her face is bloody and Mal's vision was beginning to blacken. Roan picks her up, lifting her up off the ground, and throws her back down again. She lands in the sand with a thud and Mal closes her eyes gripping at the sand. "Get knocked down, get back up." She mutters. Mal springs to her feet, renewed with determination, but when she turns to face Roan he's behind her and he's driving his sword through her side.

Mal's eyes widen, her breath hitches, the crowd around her fall silent in utter shock. Mal looks down at the sword embedded in her flesh and lets out a breathy moan of pain before looking up to meet Roan's dark eyes. He lied. He tricked her. He said no weapons and now she's been stabbed. Where was his code? Gladiators were supposed to have a code but, then again, he isn't a gladiator anymore. Mal falls backwards, slipping off the blade and landing on her back, in the sand, in a daze. She knew what was coming next, she'd imagined it would've come a lot sooner than now, but that didn't make her any more ready for it.

Roan throws his blade down and grabs Mal by the back of her tunic. He begins dragging her across the sand and Mal stares straight ahead unable to truly understand what was happening. She had blood everywhere, her nose, her mouth, numerous cuts, the huge wound in her side, her broken ribs, the sand, this was how and when Mal died.

Roan stops walking and brings Mal to her knees. She feels the cool metal of silver touch the skin on her neck and she keeps her head bowed to ground not wanting to know when she would die. The crowd burst out into yelling and screaming and Mal's ears stop ringing long enough for her to make out the steady stream of " Live, Live, Live. " that they were chanting.

Evie's eyes were wide with horror, seeing Mal bloody and beaten was not a welcomed sight and she felt her stomach churn at seeing such a thing. "Thelonious." Evie says and the emperor turns his head to look at her - her mother also looks at her strangely curious as to what Evie had to say. "Let her live." Evie says and the emperor frowns.

"Let her live?" He asks. "She took my son's hand." Evie internally groans, what a stupid excuse as to execute someone.

"She has worth Jaha." Evie protests and Jaha frowns.

"I know you seem to have a soft spot for the gladiator, Evie, but look at her, she's injured and won't be able to fight for weeks." He points out. Evie chances a look at Mal to see her bloody form and the girl grimaces from just that brief look.

"Give her to me." Evie decides and then she pulls out the card that she had been hoping to avoid. "Ever since my father's accident ," Evie hisses the word but Jaha doesn't seem to notice. "I've been so lonely. I know that you and my father were close and he wouldn't want me to be lonely… especially if you could solve it." That shut Jaha up. Evie felt almost sick at herself for even mentioning her father around Jaha, he wasn't worthy, it was his fault that her father had been killed.

"Father," Chad says from the other side of Jaha. "grant Evie this wish, it does not matter that she took my hand, that was my fault, really ." Chad says and Evie smiles at him and he returns it. Jaha lets out a huff, and Evie almost thought he looked like a pouting child, before he stood up from his throne and came front and centre of attention.

Mal was wondering what the hell was taking so long. She was also wondering what Evie was doing - if she was looking away or staring straight ahead. She hears the roaring of the crowd and waits for death, expects it even, but, instead, the blade is taken away from Mal's neck and she's dropped in the sand. Unable to summon the strength to move, two members of the guard come out and grab Mal from under the shoulders, dragging her across the sand and back to gods know where. Mal's eyes flutter closed, she wasn't sure what was happening, or why she wasn't dead, but she supposed she should be relieved.

Mal's taken to some kind of room, and dumped on a couch covered in furs, and left there in silence. Mal shifts, sitting back against the arm of the couch, she presses her hand to her side and groans. Not a moment later the doors open and Evie enters followed by her soldiers who lay what she needed to heal Mal on the ground. The guards are gone almost a second later leaving them alone.

Evie drops beside Mal and cuts away the material of her tunic immediately - the wound where Roan's blade had entered Mal was her highest priority. Mal closes her eyes, feeling exhausted and tired, and then an intense stinging to her side causes her eyes to snap open, she lets out a sharp breath, sparking pain in her chest, and she jolts up and right back down again when she feels her chest burn in protest. Mal turns her head to the side to see the wound on her side stuffed with lint, soaked in vinegar, with a sponge over the top where Evie's hands pressed down on the wound in the hopes of stopping the bleeding. Mal grunts and Evie looks up to meet Mal's green eyes that were dimmer than usual. Evie's brown eyes were sparkling either with worry or sadness - Mal couldn't really tell.

Evie stays like that, applying pressure to the wound, until she deemed the bleeding to be less of a problem. Luckily, Roan hadn't hit any major arteries, that Evie could see, or any major organs that would cause Mal to internally bleed - she was lucky. "I'm sorry." Mal mutters and Evie frowns cleaning the wound with water to remove the excess blood and debris. "I thought I could beat him." Mal continues her head rolling to one side. Evie cups Mal's chin and forces the gladiator to open her eyes.

"You're going to be okay, you have the best healer in Rome, remember?" Evie smiles and Mal nods her head. "I need you to stay with me, I'll give you something for the pain later."

"Pain is good." Mal replies as Evie readies a needle to stitch the wound. "Means I'm alive?"

"Yes Mal, you're alive." Evie replies with a fond smile. The girl was obviously a little delirious from the pain she felt and the beating she had just taken. Evie cleans the wound one last time before wrapping it in a linen bandage. She then cleans the small wounds on Mal's body that she had sustained and Evie's hands halt at her chest. She runs her hands over the brunette's sides stopping when she hears Mal's sharp intake of breath. She does it again feeling the slim gladiator's ribs underneath her fingers. "Looks like you have a few fractured ribs." Evie comments. "I can't do anything about that other than give you pain relief." Mal shakes her head and Evie removes her hands from beneath her tunic. "I don't think any have broken off which is good." Evie says grabbing a cloth that was wet.

"Hurts to breathe." Mal murmurs as Evie starts dabbing at her face, cleaning the blood away that was there along with her war paint and dirt. Mal's skin was feverish but, with the pain she was so obviously in, that wasn't unusual so Evie wasn't too worried.

"You need to breathe properly." Evie orders and Mal nods her head in understanding. "Would this be a bad time to tell you that I bought you?" Evie asks quietly. Mal hums in question closing her eyes as the young healer tended to her wounds. "Jaha has formally retired your services in the arena. I bought you to work for me."

"Work for you?" Mal asks curiously raising her eyebrow.

"Bodyguard maybe? I haven't figured out the specifics yet." Evie admits. "I just couldn't watch you die, I couldn't sit there and see Roan cut your head off." Mal smiles softly her hands finding Evie's waist to pull her closer to her.

"You saved me." Mal muses.

"Can you walk?" Evie asks. "You're to be presented your rudis to symbolise your freedom." Evie explains and Mal nods. Evie helps her stand, with a lot of difficulty, Mal groaning and grunting as she does so, she leans heavily against Evie, leaning into her side, burying her head into her neck. Evie raises her eyebrows when Mal rounds on her falling into her chest in an embrace. Evie holds her tightly feeling her heart break, it's not everyday a gladiator looks for comfort in a hug, so Evie just held her. After a long moment, Mal pulls back from the embrace and Evie helps support her as they walk out of the room and back towards the arena.

 **/**

Mal pushes off of Evie when they near the entrance to the arena. Evie had given Mal a new tunic, since her last one had been torn, for her to look presentable. "Thelonious will present you with your sword." Evie informs her. "Just, try to be grateful, and bow to your emperor, I understand you might feel a little agitated by that idea… gods know I do." Mal raises an eyebrow at that comment but Evie just shakes her head dismissively. Mal straightens herself up, putting on a brave face, she was nervous about what the crowd's reaction to her was going to be. She'd been beaten by Roan, sure, Mal had won many fights, and killed more people than she could count on her two hands, but she'd been bested, it was strange that she was being awarded her freedom, and that meant the crowd, and the people of Rome, might just hate her for it. "Don't worry," Evie says as though she can read Mal's mind. "they scream for death after every fight Mal and yet they screamed for you to live ." Evie reassures. "The people of Rome love you." She adds.

The doors open and harsh sunlight floods into the room. Mal straightens her back, so it's almost painful, puffs her chest out slightly, wincing from the strain it put on her ribs, and lifts her chin slightly. Evie stares in amazement, seeing Mal go from a broken girl to a gladiator just like that was a peculiar sight - although the tough gladiator act wasn't that bad to look at. Mal steps forward onto the sand ignoring the stab of pain every time she took another step forward. Standing in the centre of the arena was Thelonious with his Royal guards, the crowd explode into cheers and Mal uses their energy to fuel her steps. Evie watches after her, this was Mal's moment and all the blue haired girl could do was stand and watch.

Mal strides up to the emperor, and stares him hard in the eyes for a long second, before dropping to her knee. She bows her head respectfully and the crowd clap, whistle and cheer at the sight. Emperor Jaha gestures for the rudis from one of the nearby guards. "Maleficent," Jaha's voice booms through the arena silencing the crowd. "you have proved your worth as a young warrior of Rome." Mal lifts her head slightly to look up at her emperor. Mal should feel honoured, she should feel gratitude, she should feel something, but all she can think about was what exactly Jaha had done to Evie. It was his fault that Mal had even had to become a gladiator, why should she thank the man for releasing her when he put her in there in the first place? Plus, had Evie not been there then, it was likely he would have had Mal executed by Roan's hand. "You may rise." He says. Mal pushes herself up, her body screaming in protest, her side especially, she was in pain but her face didn't let that show - not even in the slightest. "I present to you, your rudis. This blade is to symbolise your service to Rome and your freedom." He explains. "Should you choose to come back to the arena, at any time, you may leave and live like a Roman citizen because of this rudis." He continues and Mal listens to him. He holds the sword out to Mal and the brunette hesitates before taking the wooden blade from him. It wasn't much, just your everyday wooden sword, it was relatively light, it couldn't do much damage, really, but if it meant that Mal wouldn't have to sleep in the pit anymore then it was Mal's new favourite thing.

The crowd breaks out into cheers again and Mal looks up to stare at them. They really did love her. Mal hadn't believed what Evie had said but she supposed being a fearless gladiator, and bringing some of the bloodiest battles for five years, would earn her at least a little recognition. Mal bows again to the emperor and he turns his back on Mal first, a custom that she knew she couldn't break, despite her being awarded her freedom, she was still lower class and turning your back on the emperor was cause for execution. Mal turns, once he's out of sight, and she stumbles her way back to Evie - almost collapsing on her way. Evie catches her when she reaches the doors, they're closed and the sound of the crowd dies dramatically. Evie holds her supportively and Mal gives her a thankful look. "Let's get you home." Evie says. Home. Mal's never really had one of those.


End file.
